"He's one of our starters right now," Torre said after Ely pitched six-plus innings. "[Vicente] Padilla is more than a month away. I don't see where he's [Ely] in any danger." [...]

"His command has been terrific," said Torre. "He makes it look -- I don't want to say easy -- but simple. And that's the thing that's been escaping our club -- getting deep into the game. He's got us to the seventh inning each time."

Since our youngsters aren't all that young anymore, it's refreshing to see a true rookie seize a chance and knock down the door, so to speak. It also helps that Ely is somewhat more of a finesse pitcher, complementing the power-pitching styles of Clayton Kershaw and Chad Billingsley. And it's nice to know that, 34 games into the season, this Dodgers team is starting to feel like the team we should have started the season with.

@DB. I was riding home last night and the Cardinal game was finishing up. They concluded their scoreboard show and were moving to regularly scheduled programming. Before they left, they played a song called "Lord I was born a Cardinal Fan". I about shit my pants. I can't get away from them. When will it end?